Oral History

Shiloh Centre for Multicultural Roots Oral History Project

Jenna was the oral historian on the Shiloh Centre for Multicultural Roots Oral History Project. This was a research and community engagement project designed to document the historical and contemporary experiences of Alberta and Saskatchewan’s Black settlers who moved to the Canadian Prairies between 1905 and 1912 to escape racism and intense persecution in the United States. A main focus was to record individuals’ experiences with discrimination and marginalization while living in Canada.

The work on this project led to the creation of an award winning documentary entitled We are the Roots: Black Settlers and their Experiences of Discrimination on the Canadian Prairies.

On the Shoulder of Giants Oral History Project

Jenna researched and recorded the history of the world-renowned Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Alberta.

This project consisted of in-depth oral history interviews with the three founders of the Division as well as the first fellows from the University’s gastroenterology fellowship training program, the first of its kind in Western Canada. This oral history project resulted in the production of the documentary On the Shoulders of Giants.

Coyote Flats Pioneer Village Oral History Project

Jenna was the oral history consultant for the Coyote Flats Pioneer Village Oral History Project which involved a partnership between Coyote Flats Pioneer Village, Picture Butte High School and the Centre for Oral History and Tradition at the University of Lethbridge.

This project recorded the history of the people who settled Picture Butte and Southern Alberta as well as the history of the development of the Coyote Flats Pioneer Village and its historic buildings and artifacts.